Baggage items by nature undergo a risk of being stolen, being broken into for their contents being stolen, or being manipulated in other ways against their owner's will. Apparently this risk is particularly high when baggage items are left alone or taken out of hand particularly in public places like airports, railway stations and the like, but is also present when left e.g. in a hotel room.
There are known systems which are intended to protect personal items like wallets, bags or suitcases against theft. For example, GB 2 375 424 A discloses a personal items protection alarm, wherein a transponder is put inside the item to be protected and a transceiver is worn by a user. The transceiver checks that the protected object is within a preset range by emitting a return signal to the transponder, and alarms the user when the signal is not returned.
Such systems however are only suitable for protection under certain circumstances. Particularly, it is required that the item to be protected is within a certain, limited distance from its owner. Further, no protection is given if the item is not carried away, i.e. stays within the preset range, but only its contents are robbed.